Rhythm Droid

Rhythm Droid is Tokyo-based Devon Hughes who makes awesome melodic funky electro/techno music. That seems quite logical since he states his musical influences includes Japanese pop to 70's fusion, Detroit techno and French electro, elements all of which you'll hear in his music. He's also touring the Tokyo nightlife with a live-show with just synths, sequencers and other hardware but with no laptop.

Take a look at this brilliant live techno jam:


Mr Hughes has been snapped up by Eye Industries who's given you the likes of The Twelves, Alan Braxe, Cassette Club and Russ Chimes. Expect to hear more from him!

(via Too Many Sebastians)

Rhythm Droid - Sunrise on Planet Tokyo

Rhythm Droid - My Neon Heart

Rhythm Droid - Vector Interlock

CatComplex

Not completely new (around a month old), but too good not to post. If you think of Spanish house music you'll think energetic, cut-up, big room filter house like Sidechains, Requesters and Buffetlibre DJs, especially if it's from Barcelona. CatComplex, who's Robin Gibb remix from the Buffetlibre rewind project we've posted earlier, has a much deeper and more mellow sound more focused on harmonies and melodies, while still totally danceable. Luv it!

CatComplex - Love Gemma

Rondó Veneziano

Is an Italian chamber orchestra, specializing in Baroque music, playing original instruments, but incorporating a rock-style rhythm section of synthesizer, bass guitar and drums, led by Maestro Gian Piero Reverberi. They have been remixed by many artists like Serge Santiago and Riton, just to name a few. If you want to know more about Rondó Venezianos unique sound click here.
Here are my favourite versions of this baroque pearl. I also include a cool video below, and no it's not Daft Punk & Leiji Matsumoto's "Interstella 5555".

Rondó Veneziano - La Serenissima

Rondó Veneziano - La Serenissima (Serge Santiago Extended Edit)

Rondó Veneziano - La Serenissima (Riton's EineKleineNachtMusik Version)

Goodbye Horses, Hello Q Lazzarus!

Do you remember that great scene with Buffalo Bill dancing in "Silence Of The Lambs"? Well I think you do... And if you've forgot watch that spooky clip below. Anyway he dances to Q Lazzarus' wonderful "Goodbye Horses". There is not much to say about this one-hit wonder besides that Q Lazzarus is also the name of the afro-american singer in this band that split up in 1996.

Here is the original together with a fine edit by Krikor.

Q Lazzarus - Goodbye Horses

Q Lazzarus - Goodbye Horses (Krikor edit)

Alexandre the Great

24 year-old Sarasota, Florida based Alexandre Lavigne is an electro producer/DJ who has made music for about a year under different names (now settling with his Alexandre moniker). In that time he's become pretty darn good at it. He mentions italo disco and electro as his main influences. That's of course spot on, and I'd say his music makes you think of people like Donovan, Chateau Marmont, the Valérie crew or Canadians like Chromeo, Electric Youth, CFCF or MSTRKRFT. And speaking of Canadians, I know what you're thinking; "hmm... Lavigne... wonder if he's related to...?", but I'll have to disappoint you, he doesn't seem to have any relation to Brad Lavigne.

Alexandre - Odyssey

Alexandre - The Ghost in the Grid

Alexandre - ElectroGASM mixtape

Tracklist:

Mick Smiley - Magic

Nino Anthony Bop ft. Mr. Eyez - Boom Ditty

Burns - Teknique vs. Rick James - Give it to Me Baby

Plus Move - Boss

KIM - Wet'n'Wild (Riot in Belgium remix) vs. Bone Thugs n Harmony - Resurrection

Tesla Boy - Electric Lady (ODahl remix)

Tesla Boy - Spirit of the Night (Bestrack remix)

Cut Copy - Far Away (ODahl remix)

Empire of the Sun - Walking on a Dream (ODahl remix)

Cut Copy - Hearts on Fire (Alexandre remix)

Cut Copy - Lights and Music (Boyz Noize Happy Birthday remix)

Passion Pit - To Kingdom Come (GRUM Vocal mix)

Frankmusik - Confusion Girl (Russ Chimes remix)

John Legend ft. Andre 3000 - the Green Light (MSTRKRFT remix)

Electrixx - Tetris

Eric Prydz - Pjanoo (Geoff van Keulen remix)

Callis - Running Away vs. I KILL PXLS - a Matter of Time

SymbolOne - Love Juice (Danger Remix) vs. Duran Duran - Girls on Film

GRUM - Go Back (Le Castle Vania Remix) vs. Miley Cyrus

Raw Man + Blanche - United (Club mix)

Wolfgang Gartner - Firepower

Alexandre - Odyssey

Vega

After many gigs and lots of parties last week here I am with the introduction of Austin, Texas resident Alan Palomo, also known as VEGA. His music is touched by 80's euro synth-pop, house and electro. Or the Rick James of the 21st century with retro-futuristic sounds...

Here is a selection of my favourite VEGA productions:

NightWaves - She's Electric (VEGA Italo Dub mix)

VEGA - No Reasons

MiMó - Running Out (VEGA Italo Dub mix)

Check out this short clip from his Live debut at Studio B:

Modeselektor + Apparat = Moderat

Yep, these two great acts made it together. Moderat is the collaboration between Sascha Ring, also known as Apparat, and Gernot Bronsert and Sebastian Szary, also known as Modeselektor. They released their first self-titled full-length album this spring on BPitch Control but they started Moderat as early as 2002 when they released an EP named "Auf Kosten der Gesundheit". After that they have worked on their own projects Apparat and Modeselektor but now they found the time to unleash Moderat. We should be glad for that, because it's awesome.

Check out this beautiful video for the my favourite song "Rusty Nails".


Some of the tunes from the great album that you can buy here and also some remixes where MMMatthias remix of "Les Grandes Marches" is even better that the original.

Moderat - Rusty Nails

Moderat - Rusty Nails (Booka Shade Remix)

Moderat - Rusty Nails (Shackleton Remix)

Moderat - A New Error

Moderat - A New Error (Lulu Rouge Edit)

Moderat - Les Grandes Marches

Moderat - Les Grandes Marches (MMMatthias Remix)

Stephen Falken got Visions

One half of the great nu italo duo The Outrunners from Valerie Collective is Stephen Falken. He has just released the EP "Visions" on Flexx. It's a great EP with even more 80's touch than The Outrunners bring about. Fantastic synth and that nice italo disco feeling takes you partly back into the 80's and partly right into space. Jan Hammer, Giorgio Moroder and now there is Stephen Falken.

Buy the full EP in best quality here.

Stephen Falken - Shadow of the Wind

Stephen Falken - Emotion Engine

And as a bonus another Valerie partner College with a dreamy remix from Stephen Falken.

College - The Scarlett Empress (Stephen Falken Remix)

Got My Torq Yesterday

So I finally got a copy of the virtual DJ program Torq (thanks Christian). Starting to mix on the laptop is kind of a big step for me since it feels like it wasn't long ago I switched from vinyl to CDs which felt a bit like selling out... Besides, I was thinking of starting DJ-ing on Mini-discs or DAT-tapes so it feels like I'm skipping a few steps of the evolution. Soon I'm getting ready to trade in my NMT cell phone for a GSM...

On the other hand this means that I will start pestering you with mixtapes of which this one is the first I recorded. It's by no means perfect...

Arnie Becker - Arnie's Sloppy "Got My Torq Yesterday" Mix

Tracklist:
Severin - The Edge Of A Sunday (Breakbot Remix)
Yuksek - Extraball (Breakbot Remix)
Donovan - Bang
The Juan Maclean - One Day (Surkin Mix)
Surkin - Chrome Knight ft. Chromeo
32Crash - Slowcrash (Lifelike Remix)
Club84 & Yeniloca - Parisienne
Alan Braxe & Kris Menace - Lumberjack
Lifelike & Kris Menace - Discopolis
Lifelike - Adventure
PH Groove - Energize The Disco
Mito - Droid
Paul - I Feel Change
ODahl - Kelly Goes Robot

Fear...

I probably should wait two more weeks until Halloween for this post about fear....but I can't. If you haven't heard Italian Easy Going's "Fear" from 1979 before I can just say one thing; it's completely brilliant.

Goblin is also an Italian group from the 70s, making progressive rock and most famous for doing the best soundtracks for all-time horror film-maker Dario Argento. Antoni Maiovvi from Berlin is the nom-de-plume for the work of Hi-NRG and italo producer Anton Maiof.

Here below you will find my favourites of these together with the reworks of Serge Santiago:

Easy Going - Fear

Easy Going - Fear (Serge Santiago Remix)

Antoni Maiovvi - The Chase Part 1

Goblin - Tenebre

Goblin - Tenebre (Serge Santiago edit)

Goblin - Theme from Profondo Rosso

Casa Del Mirto

Marco from Casa Del Mirto is a cool Italian house producer from Trento City and I'm completly new to his music, though he's been out there for a while. His music has lots of influences from the French house scene and is uptempo, catchy, funky or sometimes deep. Hopefully I will be able to see him play live very soon...

Download his both albums "Numero Uno" and "Supertrendycoolfashion" on his Myspace page.
Here are some of my favourites:

Casa Del Mirto - Intro

Casa Del Mirto - Kiss My Teddy (Hacler remix)

Casa Del Mirto - She's Homeless

Casa Del Mirto - Monologue

Kläder & Vapen

That's the name of a fresh band from Sweden that I just discovered, in English it says "Clothes & Weapons" but the shorten it KOV. Keep your eyes open for these guys because they are talented. These two remixes of Sweden's sad indie queen Anna Ternheim is nothing but fantastic material mixing electro and indie. Great new KOV!

Anna Ternheim - My Heart Still Beats For You (Kläder & Vapen Remix)

Anna Ternheim - What Have I Done (Kläder & Vapen Remix)

Don't miss out their release party at Nada in Stockholm this Friday, October 10 from 9 PM.

Walter Sobcek is a man...

...or a electronic pop duo from Paris to be more correct. But the duo have made Walter Sobcek into a project where Walter Sobcek is a character created to tell the story over 11 songs of a lost Frenchman who goes to America to follow his lost girlfriend Chelsea. He will not find her but he will get himself lost in the dark side of Los Angeles.

This is the text from their MySpace regarding the project:
"Walter Sobcek is a man.
He likes girls. He likes Traci Lords.
However, he is in love with Chelsea.
A 20 year old girl.
She is blonde. She is beautiful. She left him.
To forget her, Walter also left.

Paris – Los Angeles, one way ticket.

3 months later, Chateau Marmont, Walter is looking for Don Simpson but finds Ashlyn Gere. She aged badly. He ends his night with “Traci In Heaven”. A classic. Nobody has seen Walter Sobcek since then."

This is one of the eleven songs from the project Walter Sobcek. It's a great tune with the same French feeling as Sebastien Tellier. Follow the music story about Walter via their MySpace.

Walter Sobcek - Prom Queen (Dana Plato)

Don't Panic!

We just received a great track from Russian Xuman Records upcoming compilation "Tales" out in November. I'm jumping up'n'down when I hear this catchy track and these guys can easily become my new Russian top friends along with Tesla Boy. This song has catchy vocals with a nice 80s sounding synthesizer, reminding me of Shakatak's intro for "Nightbirds". It's actually Xuman's label owner singing with his label mates.

Xuman - Panic

Animal

Nothing new but all remixes gathered at one place! Miike Snow released their first self-titled album in May and their first single that was released from the album was the great song "Animal" which was released in February. We have posted two of the remixes earlier, the first one in the beginning of March from Treasure Fingers and the second one not that long ago from Fred Falke. But now it's time for all the "Animal" remixes to get along in the same cage!

Miike Snow - Animal

Miike Snow - Animal (Treasure Fingers Remix)

Miike Snow - Animal (Fred Falke Remix)

Miike Snow - Animal (Peter Bjorn and John Remix)

Miike Snow - Animal (Crookers Remix)

Miike Snow - Animal (Mark Ronson Remix)

Miike Snow - Animal (Punks Jump Up Remix)

Miike Snow - Animal (Fake Blood Remix)

Miike Snow - Animal (Style Of Eye Remix)

And here are two official music videos for the original "Animal".

G.O.D.

New York based Gentlemen Thieves has blown me away completely with their relatively new song "G.O.D.". I wasn't really a big fan of their earlier remixes, but I have to capitulate now. They remind me of MSTRKRFT, Justice and Daft Punk. And that can't be too bad, can it?

Gentlemen Thieves - G.O.D.

and a nice bonus song:

Gentlemen Thieves - Starlight

Animalistics

I thought I'd just write a short post to share two tracks that really stood out in our inbox today. Animalistics are two guys from Los Angeles who are into electro and house music (and who isn't?) and are trying to break into the electronica world. I'd say with debut tracks like these they will be superstars by Thanksgiving. Sweeping synths, great harmonies, slick production – and you'll probably recognize the sample in "Los Angeles", even if it's set in slightly different surroundings than the original.

Animalistics - Los Angeles

Animalistics - Extra Special